And no it's not in character at all. Luke both before, after and during his final fight with Vader continued to hold out hope he could change him. Him jumping straight to the murder in your sleep wagon after dealing with such a lost cause like Vader and seeing him change don't exactly stay in character for Luke.
Luke was younger and more naive. How could you think shit like this is an excuse? It makes sense. Rey is reminiscent of Luke when he was young. "I can bring Kylo back, etc." Luke thinks this is absurd and then his character develops into understand that, although Kylo may never be a Jedi again or start actively pursuing the light, Luke believes Ben could still act and do something to attain some sort of redemption. Look at how Luke talks to Leia about him before he goes out there.
And if it wasn't a big deal, it wouldn't have made it to the movie. Evidently something was wrong, and the scene was made for a reason. Even if the intention was just to show Kylo Ben's evil, it still used the wrong character to highlight it. If it wasn't a big deal, it wouldn't have directly thrown Kylo to the dark side and resulted in him burning down the temple and killing a bunch of people. You're trying to minimize the importance of the scene. It happened, he did it, and however fleeting the moment was it had dire consequences. Obi Wan wouldn't have done that shit.
How have I tried to minimize the importance of the scene in TLJ just because I don't agree with you on what it represents or whether or not it is within Luke's character? I think it's one of the most importance scenes in the film, hence this massive argument concerning that scene. Lol?
No, it wasn't just to show Ben's evil but it surely did a solid job at doing that. You keep on saying Luke doesn't act like a Jedi but remember that Ben has been trained all of his life and was a Jedi and his "Jedi" response to Luke holding a lightsaber over him is to sack Luke's temple and murder a bunch of Jedi that weren't standing over him with a lightsaber ignited so, in the end, Luke wasn't thoroughly wrong about Ben.
Yes, Luke contributed to Ben's fall at that moment but it wasn't due to some consistent wrongdoing. Luke had a brief moment and made a mistake at the shittiest time, creating a perfect storm.
Dude, I agree with it having consequences that are dire. Like... what? Also, since "Obi-Wan Kenobi" is not just a synonym for "Luke Skywalker", perhaps he wouldn't have. They are different people and will have different approaches, instincts, and considerations for how to handle certain things. Kenobi and Yoda aren't better Jedi. Remember, they ruled in an era where they allowed almost all of the Jedi (and there was much more than Luke had) to become extinct, lost the flagship Jedi temple, lost the Republic, etc.
They handled Anakin poorly over the course of a lifetime, along with not having the strength or preparation to deal with Sidious' cunning and prowess. Luke may have fucked up massively but his instinct told him to do something and, when you lead, you do it. Thankfully, he didn't, but he had that understanding and felt/saw that. The Jedi that came before Luke failed to do this so much more comprehensively than Luke ever did.
You mention how Kenobi and Yoda planning to kill Vader/Sidious was more drastic because of what they did? Keep in mind, those two and the Jedi council also allowed this to happen and it gave way to consequences that, as of so far, were much more serious than Luke's.
Again, how are you going to contrast the ultimate evil in Star Wars with a child? Anakin was bad enough. Palpatine though? Surely you see the error here.
Twenty. Fucking. Three.
Also, Luke was not just weighing in dealing with Ben but what someone like Snoke could do with someone as force-strong as Ben. Luke was concerned he would have another ultimate evil on his hands in that instinctive moment. Surely you understand this.
And Palpatine was literally telling Luke he was going to kill all his friends while Luke tried his hardest to hold true to himself. Not only that, but Palpatine was behind the only family he knew for however many years getting burned to death. That Palpatine was blowing up planets previously, and now had another planet destroyer that he was bragging to Luke about.
Yeah, and Luke doesn't want that happening again. Don't you see?
Anyway, Luke nearly succumbs to Sidious' manipulation. You say what Luke does in TLJ is a "non-Jedi" thing to do yet Luke fell victim to Sidious' temptation so perhaps he's not the ideal Jedi you thought he was? Perhaps he's not a Qui-Gon? Luke has always been the closest to that "grey" area and wasn't conventionally trained as a Jedi. Also, Vader threatened his sister and, AGAIN, he goes off and nearly murders him. Luke almost loses it TWICE in that throne room. Now, faced with someone like Snoke who is seeking the power Sidious had and is grooming a powerful Skywalker, you're telling me it's SO ABSURD that Luke has a passing instinct to help suppress this by taking Ben's life?
I honestly don't understand how this is so foreign to some people.
He almost kills Vader in a fit of rage to overcome him and win the battle. A Grand Wizard Luke is different than a Jedi Knight Luke. And a fit of rage in battle is different than killing a kid in his sleep in a calm state, especially when Luke should be at his peak at that point in time.
Yes, they are different. His position was different and age has made him different. However, Luke is still Luke so he's not a different person in the literal sense, now is he? Also, two fits of rage. Also, Luke carefully considered this and was intently listening to Sidious and even Vader and flew off the handle. Those weren't just "moments." Luke heard Sidious out and swung at him. Luke listened to Vader and pummeled him onto his knees and cut his goddamn hand off.
Old man Luke? Has a brief thought. Go watch the film. You can see exactly how long it is by his facial expressions and his narration of the true events at the temple grounds. That is the difference between "Grand Wizard" Luke and Jedi Knight Luke because Jedi Knight Luke just might have gone through with it.
Palpatine and Vader were behind decades of murdering people and wiping out the Jedi. It is simply not the same.
It's not, which is why the events are showcased and handled differently. However, Luke's thought isn't out of character. He's been taught that dealing with enormous galactic evil must be dealt with in a final manner. He instinctively applied this to a juxtaposing circumstance and it brought him great shame. It's completely, completely within his character.
He is not flawless, no. Nobody said that, but he has never been portrayed like he was in TLJ. The fact that he considered murdering a child is not exactly in character. The last we saw of him in films he held out hope that his beyond redemption deadbeat father that he watched murder his mentor and tried to kill his own child (Luke), could be redeemed. That is a very stark contrast to say the least.
Why would he be portrayed exactly like that? Luke was portrayed with humanity, age, experience, and trauma. This is a man whose friends have been screwed by the Empire. His father mutilated him and contributed to that, his nephew is being poisoned by another man who is trying to do what Sidious did to his father, etc.
Luke has not had an easy life and people wanted Luke in this film to just be this perfectly adjusted and unbreakable wise old man? How boring and deprived of reality that would have been... SW has needed something like this for a while and it didn't take a psychic to know a large portion of the SW audience wouldn't be prepared for it. It's a shame.